Walking between the raindrops
by Dawn-light dreamer
Summary: An accident on the highway leaves Riley lost with no memory of the past few years of her life although she does remember her early stages. To add to the confusion, letters from a mysterious identity keep appearing in her room every night, telling her about how life was when she was with him. Even stranger, a blue-eyed "friend" just can't stop visiting her...while no one else would.
1. The beginning of a new reality

Chapter-1 The beginning of a new reality

_My body was thrown right out of the glass window of the car like a ragged doll as it turned over, rolling on the dark streets. For a moment, I felt like the air was squeezed out of my lungs as I flung in the air before finally, I hit the hard concrete ground._

_Was this a nightmare? I was too overcome with pain to even contemplate about this horrid reality. Nor could I spare a thought for my unfortunate companion in hand._

"_RILEY!" the scream seemed to pierce the night sky as my crushed body lay underneath the dismantled car. I couldn't open my eyes and it felt like every part of my body was completely paralyzed. Nevertheless, I was conscious enough to feel the soaring pain the jagged glass pieces gave me as they cut into my chest._

_The wail of the sirens echoing in the highway road was the last thing I heard._

_Before everything went overwhelmingly blank. And I became dead to the world._

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"Miss Riley? Can you hear me?"

Slowly, my chocolate brown eyes fluttered open at the sound of the stranger's voice. Everything looked blurry and it felt as though my vision had dimmed. I could see though a familiar white ceiling, very like a hospital's. I began to blink several times, trying to find my sharp eyesight again. And then suddenly, a warm hand placed itself against my forehead.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep again. You need to rest."

And I groggily complied to his command and drifted to sleep once again.

When I woke up the next time, I could see a little better. The moment my eyes opened, they fell on the ceiling and this time, I could clearly make out the flawless white ceiling as a hospital's. I felt dazed for a while, like I didn't know what had happened. And instead found myself wondering how I had landed on the hospital bed.

I tried to look around, but the various wires that stuck to my body prevented me from even sitting up. I could turn my head though and as I turned, my eyes fell on leather couch on a side, right near where the wooden door stood. The room felt very eerie especially since I was all alone.

And at that very moment, the door slowly opened and in came a spectacled man wearing a white coat whom I recognized to be the doctor. My doctor.

Before he could say anything, I stuttered "Why….why I'm..m I here?"

He observed my sheet covered frame for a while before replying "You're at the Massachusetts General hospital for severe injuries due to a near fatal car accident."

"Car accident?" What the hell was he talking about?

"You met with an accident on the highway Miss. Riley. Do you remember anything?"

"Riley, is….is that…..my name?"

The doctor stared hard at me for a brief lumbering silence. Then he finally said "Do you remember anything at all?"

"No….I can't seem to."

"Do you know who you are?"

It could have been the easiest question for any other person but I couldn't for the life of me give even a half-hearted attempt to that question. The only response I could give was a frown.

The doctor without another word left the room, muttering something under his breath. It didn't take a genius to know, something was terribly wrong.

He returned after a long time and the look on his face gave me the shudders. He seemed very serious, a certain hardness was apparent on his face. He walked over to my frail body lying on the hospital bed and gently sat next to me "Do you remember your friend who accompanied you on the car ride?" he softly asked.

I slowly shook my head.

"Okay, do you remember anyone from any part of your life?"

I frowned, trying to bring out any names that had etched themselves to my heart. And suddenly with a burst of new hope, I began to rattle out the names of all the people from my early years of life, starting from my mother to the teacher who taught me 4 straight years in primary school. When I finished, he smiled gently at me.

"Good, now can you remember a few names from your adult life?"

And try as I might, I could never answer to that. When the only response he got from me was dead silence, he sighed.

"Fine, I think that is enough thinking about your life today. Would you like to meet someone tonight?"

I squinted at him as he got up. "Who? Is it someone from my family?"

He shook his black head before replying "He is your friend. He just landed here from New York a few hours before you regained consciousness. He has been eagerly waiting ever since to meet you."

Absent-mindedly, I nodded. My head felt like it was spinning in a dozen directions and I didn't really know how to respond to him. So when he left the room and the door shut behind him, I thought I was gonna be alone again in this eerie hospital room. That is until a few seconds later, the door clicked open again and instantly, I knew someone was in the room.


	2. The blue-eyed stranger

Chapter 2- The blue-eyed stranger

I heard approaching footsteps towards my bed but even then, I didn't bother to turn my head to the side and see who it was. My mind really felt like a nasty mess you can usually find in the restaurant garbage heap. One of the main reasons for that was, I did feel like I had no clue about myself. Sure I could remember my family, a few friends and so on but those are a long time ago facts. I am older now and yet, I have no idea as to who I really am in my adult life. I just know that I am Riley. And it doesn't help at all.

So why bother knowing about this "friend"? I needed to know myself first.

Little did I know, these nagging questions tugging my head would be answered. _Real soon._

And I didn't even have to think more about it. I could have but this sudden deep voice broke off everything going in my head. And it did startle me a little too.

"Hey Riley" the deep manly voice said.

And at that very moment, I felt an instant gush of warmth place itself near my sheet-covered body. A shadow fell over my face and the hand that I had placed on the white bed was suddenly enveloped in a firm grip.

That is when, mustering up all my strength, I slowly glanced at the unmoving figure right beside my numb body. And that's when my eyes fell on another pair of clear blue eyes. They were as pure as two blue crystals, twinkling underneath the shadow of his cap. And for a whole minute, I just stared at him.

Was he really my friend? I couldn't remember at all…and I hated the fact that I couldn't do so. It made me feel helpless.

"Who are you?" I finally mumbled softly.

He sighed a little and then proceeded to remove his black-white cap, revealing his teddy brown colored hair. I could have sworn I saw his face fall for a fraction of a second at my question but he immediately turned up the corners of his lips into a smile thus changing his expression. That is when I saw deep dimples cut into his cheeks.

Strangely enough, this mere smile gave me tiny goose bumps on my skin. And once again, I didn't know why.

"I'm John, Riley" he replied softly. "We just met 2 years ago. I'm your friend"

I squinted hard at him, trying to scan his faint images in what was left of my memories but failing in my attempt to do so. He just gazed at me with that same smile on his face, and it almost looked like he was forcing himself to not stop smiling like that.

He said he was my friend. But I couldn't place him at all. He still looked like a complete stranger to me.

"I'm sorry" I finally shook my head, staring sadly at him. "I can't seem to remember you."

He shook his own brown head, still smiling at me like I was some autistic kid who didn't understand anything he said. "That's okay" he said gently and squeezed my hand lightly. "I understand you're going through something horrible. I'm just glad you're still alive."

I sensed the sadness in his voice and looked him in the eye again. Were those tears glistening in them? Or was it just my imagination? For a moment, a heartbeat moment, I felt my own lump form in my throat. I so badly wanted to remember who he was and then tell him that yes; I knew he was there with me through all my joys and sorrows like a true friend.

But for some strange reason, my conscience or what was left of my conscience in my mangled body told me, friend just wasn't the word he was or that he claimed to be.

A part of me, probably my gut feeling told me, he wasn't my friend. There was just something about his entire persona, something I couldn't put my finger on, that told me, was whispering in my head '_He isn't a friend Riley. He just doesn't feel like one.'_

But I instantly dismissed all those nagging thoughts off my head, somehow blaming it all on the after-effects of losing my memory. Maybe if it was some other guy in his place, I would have felt the same way about him.

My thoughts were broken off once again by his husky voice "How you doin now Riley?"

I slowly nodded my head in response. "Good. At least that's what the doctors told me. They said I was lucky to be alive after such a fatal car accident."

He nodded grimly at this. "They're right you know" he said quietly. "You're really lucky." His eyes then moved down to the tiled hospital floor and once again, I sensed something else in his voice, like he knew something I didn't. But I didn't try to know. I still had a throbbing ache in my head and though I wanted to ask him so many things in order to relieve a few memories, I thought better of it.

"John?"

"Hm?" he looked up to meet my gaze.

Something propelled me to squeeze his warm hand tenderly. He looked a little surprised at first, but he did squeeze my hand back and flashed me a small smile.

"I should probably sleep now" I told him in a soft voice. "My head hurts."

He nodded knowingly at me. "A' right "he almost whispered in reply. Before he could even get up and leave, my eyes already closed as the drowsiness that lingered around my sheet-covered body took over my senses like some sleeping pills. I didn't even bother to notice the fact that his warm body was still pressed against mine. I was too tired and sleepy to do so.

I didn't know when he left because by that time, I had already dozed off.

And when I did wake up, there was a slight hint of sunshine penetrating in through the curtained hospital windows. For the first time, this cold and lonely room felt a little warm.

I closed my eyes again, and set off on my task of trying to remember the memories that made me who I am today. At least until the doctor came back.

The only sound that helped me was the faint twittering of birds outside.

And nothing else.

_Finally wrote a chapter! Phew! What a relief! _

_Will surely get back to my other stories too. Forgive me for updating them so late._


End file.
